


The P Word

by merryfortune



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: F/F, Pre-Canon, Puns & Word Play, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-22 18:36:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21306692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryfortune/pseuds/merryfortune
Summary: There are plentiful "P" words which Paper Star could use when it came to her pining for Black Sheep.
Relationships: Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep/Paper Star
Comments: 14
Kudos: 86





	The P Word

Paper Star was pragmatic. She would even say that the “P” in “Pragmatic” stood for “Paper Star” but others might digress. They saw something shrill and whimsical when they looked at her, not even once having a passing thought that Paper Star might be orchestrating herself and all her wonderful vocalisations and tics and what-have-you was all part of a very important and convincing persona.

And yes, Paper Star would also say that the “P” in “Persona” stood for “Paper Star”.

Paper Star was someone who had some very pernickety ideas about persona. From the way she styled her hair to the cadence of her voice she used; Paper Star was very careful about the person that she presented herself as being. Her authentic self was hosted somewhere beneath the bubble gum pop and tended to be a little more self-serving and impetuous than the fuddy-duddies around her would want her to be as their good little thief in training. Instead, she presented herself as someone airy and harmless. Dreamy. Someone her peers wouldn’t be intimidated by would rather mock. But Paper Star knew it was her laughter which would last the longest because she had them all fooled by how she wanted them to perceive her.

But there was one person, it seemed, who saw past the persona, past the façade which Paper Star took a lot of care to crease and fold like her daring creations. This girl saw past Paper Star with scissor-like convictions, and she had written down her thoughts on the matter, but Paper Star was one step ahead. She was the evasive type when it came to the thrill of the hunt. The cat; never the mouse.

So, anything that this girl saw in her was good as naughts without crosses. Anything she had on Paper Star was unprocessed. Information that was still raw like an uncut gemstone in this person’s hands. From that, Paper Star had deduced that this person still wasn’t sure what to make of her. How adorable. And just how Paper Star liked it, when someone so cutting was able to make it past her defences.

Her codename was Black Sheep. Supposedly, her name was Lambkins. Paper Star thought she was neither. She didn’t seem like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, not yet at least. She had a chip on her shoulder and Paper Star would _love_ to dig into that. She would love to see how that chip would crack and perhaps even shatter if Paper Star could just dig her fingers in.

But, unfortunately, she had to play nice. They were classmates. Sort of. Kind of. She was a repeat. Paper Star didn’t even know that V.I.L.E allowed for repeats for recruits. She thought they would be shipped off the island or made to be food for the fish in the sea. So, Paper Star was intrigued.

Just what kind of wool did this little Black Sheep have which made her so valuable?

Paper Star wanted to know. And, by her measures, giggly and whimsical, she wanted to know badly. Desperately.

Best of all, given that they were classmates, Paper Star thought that she was in the perfect position to do so.

Oh, look, another fun “P” word. Perhaps the best of all. Perfect. Yes, Paper Star absolutely perfect and she was precise too.

She started on the inside. She intended to work her way in. People were no different to paper like that. They just needed a little bit of pressure and Paper Star had the perfect amount of pressure which she could apply to Black Sheep. An offer of goodwill – a hello, a goodbye, maybe even a lollipop – and an invitation here and there but Paper Star was completely blocked out.

She was screened out and fazed out. She was treated roughly, and she wasn’t even given so much as the time of day. Black Sheep was so cute. She thought that she held all the cards and was staring them down and over across this interpersonal game of poker that Paper Star was trying to incite her into.

But that wasn’t the game that Paper Star was playing. It seemed that widdle Black Sheepie didn’t know much when it came to the matters of love, and better yet, the matters of pining. Black Star just adores that word. It was also a very good “P” word though not as good as “perfect” or even “precise”.

She didn’t mind though. She was a thief and the more impenetrable the fortress, the better the treasure hidden, and Black Sheep’s heart was certain to be something very good. Her potential as well. Paper Star wanted to see what the Faculty saw in her and she wanted to desecrate it. She wanted to supersede the other little girl running with the big kids like Paper Star was. She was a brat – a prat? – like that. She just wanted to be more than a Star. She wanted to be a supernova but that would come later.

For now, Paper Star just wanted to get close. Close enough to pluck a hair from her cute little head and to say she won. A prize better than all because of how closed off Black Sheep was. After all, Paper Star wasn’t a fool. She knew that her combinations weren’t going to crack Black Sheep. It was unrequited but Paper Star didn’t mind. She loved for love’s sake; an aesthetic no different to the piercings in her face.

Paper Star just wanted to play her games. She wanted to watch Black Sheep. From afar, from as up close as possible. She wanted to breathe the same air as this little darling whom she couldn’t quite figure out. Not yet at least. Not when she still hadn’t cracked the codes and found the jewels in the rough of Black Sheep’s grey eyes, like the din diamonds were so secretly kept in.

It really wasn’t all that problematic to pine and to play games and to want perfection and to papercraft precise personas. Paper Star was a schoolgirl after all. That’s what schoolgirls did. They fell in love with people who were unattainable to them purely because they were interesting.

And Paper Star was going to find out why Black Sheep was so interesting one of these days. Mark her words with dotted lines like instructions in the origami book she had picked up all those years ago, thus making her the girl she was today.


End file.
